I read a fascinating article today on the so called “oil producing Bible” in Georgia that got me thinking about what we as Christians look to for support of our beliefs. At the end of the article, someone interviewed said, “It has brought people closer to God, it has brought people healing, it has rekindled people’s faith and curiosity even if one day it’s proven that all this was a sham.” That’s not the kind of faith I want! I don’t want to be reliant upon external signs and random happenings to trust that God will keep his promises to us. Nor should any of us! Yes, God often works through common means of grace (thankfully) to encourage us, but so often we want something miraculous when the miraculous has already happened.
I immediately thought of Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians 15 when as I was reading this. Paul reminds us:
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”
The resurrection is a verifiable historical fact. There’s no argument greater for our faith than the empty grave. And if that grave isn’t empty, then we should be pitied, according to Paul.
Our entire faith hinges on that empty grave. We don’t need any more evidence to support the truth that Jesus was the Son of God and bore the penalty for our sins, and because of that we are now his ambassadors to the watching world! That gives us hope in the midst of our long obedience in the same direction, the obedience that is impossible apart from the Spirit at work in us through the support of our family in Christ. So let’s not forget to keep Christ at the forefront of our minds and lives as we rely on that sign of the empty grave.
Pastor Mike's Musings 